REVolutionary New Floodlight-REV Captor

[Insequent]

Thought I'd share some brief thoughts on my experience with the Captor. I've had it for about two weeks now.

It is an enjoyable light to use. Oddly though, somewhat like not having a flashlight, in that everything is lit up very naturally. When I switch back to a reflector-type light I find that I'm annoyed and that I am constantly moving the light around to adjust the spill/hotspot location for whatever I happen to be looking at. I hadn't really noticed it before as that was just how using a flashlight was supposed to be. When you think about it, reflectors really produce an odd light pattern; bright by your feet, gradually fading to dark, then a bright hotspot. Inherently unnatural. Not anymore.

Initially, one of my concerns was having to maintain the proper orientation of the light. The GITD dot should be generally pointed up as the beam is horizontally biased. In practice, this is a non-issue. Just a quick and small twist of your wrist easily allows you to see the beam on your periphery. The pattern doesn't change in front of you, unless you really rotate it, but you can quite easily check orientation with the far peripheral spill. One of those things that takes far longer to describe than to master in practice.

So far anyone, well, any guy that is, that sees it will almost immediately ask something like, "Wow, what kind of light is that?" Fun stuff with a high practical value. My plan now is to somehow mount it to my mountain bike. Should make twisty turns and flow trails a breeze at night.

 

[houser23]

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on the Captor, I myself have this light on my bucket list and as soon as I get some funds together it will be in my possession along with my equally impressive DEFT-X.

 

[hikingman]

What is so amazing about this light is how the periphery is as (or nearly as) bright as what is right in front of you. So when I hike a trail with much vegetation close to each side of it, the vegetation is so brightly lit up compared to any other light, you have to get used to the effect. As said above, no need to move the Captor from side to side as you would other flashlights. Perhaps my only tiny quibble is that the brightness dead ahead on the trail doesn't always reach as far out as I would like, so I sometimes carry another small light to accomplish that. No one light can do it all but, for my specialized needs, it comes very, very close indeed.

Dave

 

[yoyoman]

Used my Captor on a tripod for tonight's bbq. Cote de boef (a big rib eye) on direct heat. Cook to very rare, cut a piece off for my daughter and me. Keep cooking to medium rare and cut a piece off my son. Keep cooking to medium well for my wife. The hi cri of the Captor let me see the browns and reds. Once I had the tripod in the right position to avoid shadows, it was a pleasure. Broad flood with no hot spot was just perfect. Great, useful, well engineered and executed light. Thank you Michael.

 

[magnum70383]

New to the party but just read the entire thread and selfbuilt's review. I love flood lights. I actually don't have any throwers and yes just read about the deft x now so I'm also too late again... Being a professional photographer, with no "visible" hotspot this light might be perfect for photoshoots to replace my flashguns! The beam looks like it's soft enough to replace a small softbox so if I get 2 of these lights, I can create some really good lighting. Also if the color temperature is as good as what everybody is saying, then this light can be labelled, "flashlight to replace photography lighting." ha ha

 

[hikingman]

New to the party but just read the entire thread and selfbuilt's review. I love flood lights. I actually don't have any throwers and yes just read about the deft x now so I'm also too late again... Being a professional photographer, with no "visible" hotspot this light might be perfect for photoshoots to replace my flashguns! The beam looks like it's soft enough to replace a small softbox so if I get 2 of these lights, I can create some really good lighting.

I have also thought of using this light, both for night "light painting" and as fill on flowers and vegetation in normal & macro shooting, but have not done so yet due to damage to the base of my camera and tripod adaptor. I will soon. The light is indeed "soft" and the blend of light from the two cool white LEDs and high CRI warm LED is quite good. I don't imagine the 2 cool LEDs have a high CRI rating and this might not make much difference anyway if you create a camera profile to compensate for any spectrum oddities. My only question might be about how bright the Captors are compared to your professional lights. But if you are doing studio work with non-moving objects, that also might not be critical.

Dave

 

[magnum70383]

I don't know how a flashgun is compared to 2500 lumens. Maybe this light is effective for shooting videos? So cool!

I'm also surprised by the lack of interest for this flashlight. There's only 5 pages to this thread. I wonder why?

 

[hikingman]

I don't know how a flashgun is compared to 2500 lumens. Maybe this light is effective for shooting videos? So cool!

I'm also surprised by the lack of interest for this flashlight. There's only 5 pages to this thread. I wonder why?

Less sex appeal in "practical" things, so they are less appreciated

 

[BeastFlashlight]

Is this light fairly similar to a powerful mule?

 

[hikingman]

Is this light fairly similar to a powerful mule?

I would say yes. I briefly owned a monster mule and that light and the REV have the same characteristic of having no hot spot even when aimed at something just feet away. It's a strange effect to experience because the light can be very bright but there still isn't a hot spot. I certainly don't know if all "mules" are like that however, so my comments apply only to that one mule.

However, the similarity ends there. The REV is adequately bright and very useful and doesn't burn your hands 5 minutes later I loved that mule which was bright as hell but it got scalding hot fast. Even that didn't bother me but the high current draw was affecting high drain batteries in ways I didn't care for.

 

[yoyoman]

Mules create very harsh shadows. The Rev Captor has noticeably softer shadows. No hot spot, a wider beam and softer shadows. You can run it on full output without burning your hands or harming your cells. A very special light.

 

[magnum70383]

I must buy this light. It's there gonna be an updated led?

 

[Parker VH]

If anyone has a used Captor they'd sell please let me know. I would like to add this light to my collection but I'm not sure that I want it bad enough to buy it new. I have several of Michael's lights and really appreciate the work to bring them to fruition. I'll be the first to admit that I'm first and foremost a lover of throw lights but the Captor would be useful in its own right.

 

[Offgridled]

Brand new Rev Captor arriving tomorrow I will post pics and thoughts. Exciting!!!